Russian Drone Attacks Kyiv
Russian drone attacks targeted Kyiv on Monday, causing power and heating outages and wounding one person, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. The attacks followed Russian strikes on Ukraine on New Year’s Eve and January 1 that left at least four people dead. Read our live blog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
11:57am: Dozens of drones ‘headed for Kyiv’ in earlier overnight attacks, Kyiv mayor says
Russia deployed multiple drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, officials said Monday, as the Kremlin signaled no letup in its strategy of targeting civilian infrastructure and trying to wear down Ukrainian resistance.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Monday that 40 drones “headed for Kyiv” overnight. All of them were destroyed, according to air defence forces.
Klitschko said 22 drones were destroyed over Kyiv, three in the Kyiv region and 15 over neighbouring provinces.
5:39am: Overnight strikes on Kyiv cause power and heating outages, mayor says
As a result of overnight strikes on Kyiv, energy infrastructure facilities were damaged, causing power and heating outages, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Monday.
4:12am: Ukrainian drone attack damages power facility in Russia’s Bryansk region, governor says
A Ukrainian drone attack damaged a power supply facility in Russia’s Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, the regional governor said on Monday, adding that there were no casualties.
“A Ukrainian drone attack was carried out this morning on the Klimovsky district,” Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram.
“All emergency services are on site. As a result of the strike, the power supply facility was damaged, and there is no electricity”.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.
The Klimovsky district of the Bryansk region borders northeastern Ukraine.
2:14am: Russian drone attacks target critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv, local governor says
Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure in a series of drone attacks early Monday on Kyiv and the region surrounding it, officials said.
Russia kept pounding Kyiv for the second night in a row, after firing a barrage of missiles over the capital late on New Year’s Eve and earlier in the day.
“It is loud in the region and in the capital: night drone attacks,” Kyiv Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said on the Telegram messaging app. “Russians launched several waves of (Iranian-made) Shahed drones. Targeting critical infrastructure facilities. Air defence is at work”.
By 3am local time (0100 GMT), Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed 16 air objects above Kyiv, the city’s military administration said. Air raid sirens had been wailing by that time for more than three hours.
2:14am: One person wounded from drone debris in Kyiv’s Desnianskiy district
One person was wounded early on Monday from debris from a destroyed drone that hit the capital’s northeastern Desnianskiy district, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
A 19-year-old man was taken to a hospital in the district, Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app, after drone debris hit a road there and damaged a building.
12:24am: Ukraine shells Donetsk’s Makiivka, hitting military quarters
Ukrainian forces shelled on New Year’s Eve the city of Makiivka and other places in the Moscow-controlled parts of the Donetsk region, Russian officials said, with reports saying that a military quarters were hit.
The Moscow-installed administration of the Donetsk region in Ukraine said on Sunday that at least 25 rockets were fired at the region overnight on New Year’s Eve.
Russia’s TASS state news agency cited local Moscow-installed officials as saying that at least 15 people were injured in Makiivka, a major coal producing centre, in a series of shelling with High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) rockets.
Daniil Bezsonov, a senior Russian-backed official in the Moscow-controlled parts of Donetsk, said that there was a strike on a vocational school, which according to preliminary information served as military personnel quarters.
“A massive blow was dealt to the vocational school from American MLRS HIMARS. There were dead and wounded, the exact number is still unknown,” Bezsonov said on the Telegram messaging app. “The building itself was badly damaged.”
12:08am: Kyiv’s mayor says blasts hit Desnianskiy district, emergency services at site
An explosion took place in Kyiv’s Desnianskiy district, the capital’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said early on Monday, adding that emergency services were at the site. “An explosion in the Desnianskiy district of Kyiv. All services are on site. Details later,” Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.
Drone debris hit a road in the northeast Kyiv district, damaging a building next to it, said Ukrainian presidential aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
“Information about (potential) casualties is being clarified,” Tymoshenko said on Telegram.
11:00pm, January 1: Kyiv regional governor warns of drone attacks, air raid sirens sound in eastern Ukraine
“Air raid alert has been announced in the region,” Oleksiy Kuleba, the governor, said on the Telegram messaging app. “There is a threat of a Shahed (Iranian-made drone) attack”. The emergency services said air raid alerts were announced for the city of Kyiv, which does not administratively belong to the Kyiv region, and for the eastern part of Ukraine.
The Kyiv region was under threat of drone attacks late on Sunday, its governor said, as air raid sirens sounded across the capital and eastern Ukraine.
